Stingray Boats

[jkust]

Re: Stingray Boats

I bought mine used. Its 25 years old, but it was well maintained. I'll agree that she likes to porpoise when trimmed up. I'm sure I could resolve that with the smart tabs. We are usually loaded with 4-6 folks, tubes, skis, etc. My 176 SVB with the 3.0 L Mercruiser will move the boat almost 50 MPH on flat water. Plenty of power for water sports. Seats look practically brand new; you can still see the "Stingray" stitched into the seat vinyl. If this is a low-quality boat, well then I'll take one every time.

rgds

Eric

I think the only 3.0 equipped boat I'd take would be a Stingray. Ignoring the ride quality, the Zplane hull is the real deal. As for quality...there are no bad boats just bad owners. Any boat in fresh water can last decades and decades looking like new with just the tiniest bit attention and upkeep. Lazyness kills freshwater boats interiors not the manufacturer name.

MSRP vs MSRP was about $17k difference with the stuff I was looking at. I got mine $4k below MSRP. I'm assuming the others could be gotten cheaper also.

I'm betting you are right. Plus for me I keep my stuff longer than most and will likely keep my sig boat another 5 years at least at least and likely longer. Not everybody keeps stuff as long as I do so for some, it may not make sense. Over the years I would have regretted not spending the money on the better version of whatever I get. It averages out to not much more.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Stingray Boats

I am far from a "lazy" boat owner. I way overdo the whole maintenance thing with my boat. However, I use it a lot. I do all the towing out of our group of boaters. Kids in and out, lots of wet water toys in and out, etc. So at 10 years my vinyl is having some spots with wear problems.

As a matter of fact as soon as the wife gets ready we are off to the lake today! It is a high of 79 and the surface water temp is 79. Can't beat that for the first official day of fall.

 

[jkust]

Re: Stingray Boats

I am far from a "lazy" boat owner. I way overdo the whole maintenance thing with my boat. However, I use it a lot. I do all the towing out of our group of boaters. Kids in and out, lots of wet water toys in and out, etc. So at 10 years my vinyl is having some spots with wear problems.

As a matter of fact as soon as the wife gets ready we are off to the lake today! It is a high of 79 and the surface water temp is 79. Can't beat that for the first official day of fall.

I've got arguably the biggest pos ever made being an 84 Bayliner we got new...The interior is still 95% of new. No joke, no kidding, no seat seam failure or anything else failure...looks like it came though a time machine. Point is any boat...literally even the worst of the worst can be kept nice with a few rules. Some of it must be point of view what I consider lazy and what other's consider normal...don't know. Of course there is just poor workmanship or a missed seam or whatever but that's the exception not the rule especially for Stingray who seem to do a good job with customer service. We treat our stuff like it's the last car, suv, boat, whatever we will ever own.

 

[gtochris]

Re: Stingray Boats

We treat our stuff like it's the last car, suv, boat, whatever we will ever own.

My partner and I formerly had a detailing business for 5 years and doesn't matter- boat, car, beater car, SUV, everything gets taken care of both under the hood and cosmetically. I constantly get compliments on my toys. A few weeks ago we were rafted up with a few other boats- I had the oldest one in the group but everyone was amazed with my gel-coat and interior, 2 of the boats I felt bad for as they were in really rough shape for only 5ish years old! (maybe got the annual wash but that is it).

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Stingray Boats

I do not have a single seam issue. What I have, is at the rear of the sun pad, where there is no place for the water on the inside of the sun pad to drain, 3 small 1 cm cracks in the vinyl. I have a similar 1 cm crack on the front cushion in the lower corner. When I redo this vinyl, there will be some small drain groments in these places. When you do as much water sports as we do, these places get wet.

I ski with a person who put about 150 hours on his ski boat a year with the local ski club. The boat goes home into a garage every night. The exterior is immaculate. The boat is on the second interior.

When you use vinyl, it wears out in areas. There is no magic product out there that will stop it from wearing. You can prolong its life, or shorten its life, but it will wear when used.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Stingray Boats

My 2011 215LR was a great boat. No issues with it. The fit and finish was nice. It did what it was supposed to with no issues. The 4.6MPI I had in it was good. I could hit low 50s with a 19P prop. Im not really sure if I see anyone in this thread complaining about their stingray. The people complaining are all "my friend has one" or "I know someone who has one" of "If I were to get one then..."

 

[jkust]

Re: Stingray Boats

My partner and I formerly had a detailing business for 5 years and doesn't matter- boat, car, beater car, SUV, everything gets taken care of both under the hood and cosmetically. I constantly get compliments on my toys. A few weeks ago we were rafted up with a few other boats- I had the oldest one in the group but everyone was amazed with my gel-coat and interior, 2 of the boats I felt bad for as they were in really rough shape for only 5ish years old! (maybe got the annual wash but that is it).

Yeah I don't understand why there's such a difference in how people maintain their stuff. I drive by a neighbor's house every day who has a newer Glastron and it sits uncovered all year on his driveway which is just unimaginable to me. I think for me, it was my upbringing. When you got a bike or whatever...it literally was the final and only you would ever get so it was up to me to make it last. There simply wasn't money to replace or update. While that's not the case as an adult, you can't shake it and the side effect is conservatism in all ways.

 

[dan02gt]

Re: Stingray Boats

Yeah I don't understand why there's such a difference in how people maintain their stuff. I drive by a neighbor's house every day who has a newer Glastron and it sits uncovered all year on his driveway which is just unimaginable to me. I think for me, it was my upbringing. When you got a bike or whatever...it literally was the final and only you would ever get so it was up to me to make it last. There simply wasn't money to replace or update. While that's not the case as an adult, you can't shake it and the side effect is conservatism in all ways.

Yeah I don't get it either. I've worked for everything I've ever got so I take care of it like I have to make it last forever. I also have a neighbor that bought what looks to be like a new pontoon a few months ago. It sets out uncovered all the time and I don't think they've used it twice. My boat is ether at my grandparents in their massive shop or covered in my yard.

 

[jkust]

Re: Stingray Boats

Yeah I don't get it either. I've worked for everything I've ever got so I take care of it like I have to make it last forever. I also have a neighbor that bought what looks to be like a new pontoon a few months ago. It sets out uncovered all the time and I don't think they've used it twice. My boat is ether at my grandparents in their massive shop or covered in my yard.

What this mentality does however is make being a used buyer really, really challenging. Finding the needle in the haystack of acceptable boats, cars, houses or whatever becomes frustrating. I can see after enough of these experiences why people end up buying certain things like boats new and ignore the depreciation. The flip side is when I sell something, people don't attempt to negotiate the high price I am asking because they just aren't going to find one in nicer shape...again because so few seem to take really good care of their stuff.
My wife will literally laugh at me and drone on about the high prices I ask for vehicles when I finally sell them...then someone shows up to buy it and she hears them drone on and on about how unlikely it is that a car/truck or whatever is as nice as the ad stated while they pay me.

 

[DCMacGuy]

Re: Stingray Boats

In 1989, my parents bought an 1988 SVB205SS with a 5.0/Alpha 1 off the floor of our dealer. Throughout the years the boat spent most of its time on Lake Cumberland and was phenomenal.

In July 1990, we were in a waterspout on a local lake in Ohio and the boat sustained a significant amount of damage to the starboard side. The entire lake was trying to empty out of a 5 stall ramp before this storm blew up, my mom had dropped my father off to go get the trailer and we were idling a hundred feet or so from shore. Shortly before the waterspout came up, a trailing wave hit the stern of the boat and stalled the engine. Before we could get the boat restarted, we were pushed onto large boulders along the shore. Eventually, my father was able to get the boat off of the shore and onto the trailer - the water in the boat was mid calf deep (don't ask me how it started) - but it was stable and still floating high. It said a lot for how the boat was built.

We had the boat repowered in 2001 with a Horizon 350/Bravo 1. It barely fit under the engine cover - but it transformed the boat. It was propped for speed more at this point, but would hit in the mid to upper 60s on GPS lightly loaded. It also chinewalked and was blatantly terrifying at those speeds - but my father took pride in his sleeper abilities with that boat. He passed in 2008 and subsequently we sold the boat as we did not have the ability to use it.

Over the years - we had to redo seat bases and my father and I redid the floor partially for a soft spot. The transom and stringers were still rot free. It was covered in the driveway in the summer, and in a heated garage in the winter. The only warranty work it ever needed was for canvas fit, and it was handled very well by the dealer and Stingray. I'm hopefully going to be in a situation where I can purchase a boat in the next couple of years - and based on our experiences Stingray is at the top of my short list.

tl;dr: We had a Stingray for nearly 20 years, and in that time short of Cobalt I don't think I personally encountered anything built as well or better.